Rail slotter



Sept. 14, 1965 N. F. CLAYBORNE ETAL 3,205,623

RAIL SLOTTER Filed July 23, less 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS NORMA/V F. CLAVBORNE MAX 5. KER/VS MM E. HAML/N ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,205,623 RAIL SLOTTER Norman Francis Clay borne, Monticello, lnd., Max E. Kerns, Greenwich, Conn., and William E. Hamlin, Jackson, Micln, assignors to Railway Automation Maintenance Specialties Company, Jackson, Mich.

Filed July 23, 1963, Ser. No. 297,127

Claims. (Cl. 51-178) The invention pertains to a railroad rail-working machine, and particularly pertains to a machine for slotting or grinding railroad rails.

A common maintenance procedure on railroad rails consists of repairing damage done to the ends of the rails by the car wheels. In the course of use the impact of a railroad car wheel as it passes over a rail joint, formed by end rails, causes the end of the rail ball to pound down and be deformed, due to the hammering effect produced by the wheels. To repair such rail damage, it is necessary to build up the ends of the rails by Welding procedures. After the ends of the rails are built up by welding, the rail welded portions are ground to produce a wheel-engaging surface coplanar with the remainder of the rail. As the welding operation often welds the adjacent ends of the rails together, a slotting operation is performed by a slotting tool to restore the spacing between rail ends.

The instant invention pertains to a machine which is employed in conjunction with the above-described rail maintenance procedure whereby the machine is capable of quickly slotting the rails at the weld joint, and whereby the machine may also be employed in grinding the welded r-ail portions to the configuration of the remainder of the rail.

It is an object of the invention to provide a rail-working machine which is of economical and lightweight manufacture, and is capable of quickly slotting railroad rails.

Another object of the invention is to provide a railslotting machine of simplified and easily operable construction whereby the machine may be used on either of the two rails constituting a railroad track without modification or extensive adjustment. This feature is in important contrast to prior art devices of this type wherein extensive and complex adjustments and operations are necessary to permit the slotting tool to be shifted from one rail to the other.

A further object of the invention is to provide a railworking machine having a separate tool head for each rail, wherein the tool heads are mounted on a common support beam of symmetrical and balanced configuration, wherein the beam permits the operator to easily work on either of the railroad rails constituting a track, and counterbalances the machine tool parts so as to provide :an easily operable machine capable of being accurately controlled with very little effort.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lightweight rail-working machine adapted to be mounted on a railroad track for movement thereon which may be easily removed from the track by two men.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a railworking machine which reduces man power and investment requirements over prior machines of similar type, and whereby the rail-working tool may be easily moved in a vertical and transverse direction.

These and other objects of the invention arising from j details and relationships thereof of an embodiment of the invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

3,295,623 Patented Sept. 14, 1965 FIG. 1 is a front, perspective view of a rail-working machine, in accord With the invention, mounted on a railroad track,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the rail-working machine of FIG. 1, illustrating the attachment of a hand held grinding wheel to the machine and breaking away a portion of the belt and slotting tool wheel guards for purposes of illustration,

FIG. 3 is a front, elevational view of the rail-working machine, in accord with the invention, illustrating a cutting tool in full lines at a left rail-engaging and lateral position, and illustrating another lateral position at the same tool elevation in dotted lines. Additionally, a position of the beam and tool for working on the right-hand rail is illustrated in dotted lines, and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, detail, perspective view of the drive shaft, beam, beam-balancing means, and tool-carrying shafts of a machine, in accord with the invention, with the belt and slotting tool guards removed.

The rail-working machine, in accord with the invention, includes a pair of elongated frame members 10 interconnected by a pair of spacer members 12 which maintain the members 10 in parallel relation. An end member 14 is interconnect-ed to the similar ends of the members 10 and extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal length thereof. A pair of flanged rail-engaga-ble wheels 16 is rotatably mounted on each of the members 14, FIG. 2, for supporting the machine frame on railroad rails 18, constituting a railroad track. It will be appreciated that the spacing of the members '14 relative to each other is only slightly less than the railroad track gauge. Preferably, the members 19, 12, and 14, are formed of a rectangular, tubular construction, which provides high strength characteristics with a minimum of weight.

A pair of formed, tubular handles 20 is attached to each member 10 by bolts 22, FIG. 2, whereby the handles include handgrip portions which extend over the rails 18, and these handgrip portions may be grasped by an operator at each end of the frame, whereby two men may lift and remove the machine from the railroad rails, or place the machine upon the rails.

A motor carriage 24 is mounted on the members 10 and is provided with a pair of wheels 26 at each end thereof, whereby a pair of wheels 26 engages the upper surface of a member 10. A retaining element 28, FIG. 3, is aflixed to the lower portion of the carriage 24 and extends under the members 10, where by the carriage may not be lifted from the members 10. The machine motor means in the illustrated embodiment constitutes a gasoline engine 30 affixed to the carriage 24, and the weight of the engine and carriage is entirely borne by the wheels 26, to permit the motor to be easily moved transversely with respect to the railroad rails 18. A handle 32 may be attached to the engine 30 to facilitate moving of the machine along the railroad rails.

The engine 30 includes a drive shaft 34 which may be an extension of the engine crankshaft. A pair of sheaves 36 is aflixed on the drive shaft 34, and the outer end of the drive shaft is provided with an adapter 38 to which a flexible cable for a grinding wheel attachment may be connected, as will be described later. A plate 40 is affixed to the engine 30, and a lever 42 is pivotally mounted on each lateral side of the engine to the member 10 adjacent the drive shaft 34, FIG. 4. Each of the levers 42 is pivotally afiixed to the plate 40 by a linkage member 44. The upper ends of the levers 42 are provided with a knob 46, whereby the operator may grasp the knob of either lever and by pivoting the lever in the direction parallel to the members 10 may cause the engine and engine carriage to roll along the members in a direction transverse to that of the rails 18.

A tool-supporting beam 48 is pivotally mounted on the engine drive shaft 34 by conventional bearing means, not shown. The beam 48 is provided with a central U-shaped portion 50, whereby the sheaves 36 may be located within the U-shaped beam portion. A pair of spring-biased plungers 52 is afiixed to the plate 40 on opposite sides of the drive shaft 34, and is slidably mounted within a housing 54 in which a spring, not shown, is contained, tending to bias the plungers 52 downwardly. The springs within the housings 54 are similar and the plungers 52 bear on the upper surface of the portion 50 on opposite sides of the shaft 34 to bias the beam 48 in a horizontal, neutral position, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

The outer ends of the beam 48 are each provided with a rotatably mounted tool-supporting shaft 56 mounted in suitable bearings. The tool-supporting shafts 56 are mounted on brackets 58 which are adjustably afiixed to the outer portions of the beam 48 by bolts 60 received within slotted openings 62 defined within the bracket, FIG. 4. In this manner, the distance between the axis of a tool shaft 56 and the drive shaft 34 may be varied to increase or decrease belt tension.

A sheave 66 is mounted on each of the tool shafts 56, and is interconnected in driven relationship to a drive the engine and engine carriage must be moved to the right wherein the axis of the engine drive shaft assumes the position 78, FIG. 3.

As a grinding operation is usually necessary after the rails have been built up by welding, the machine of the invention may be used for such purposes by attaching a flexible cable 80, FIG. 2, to the drive shaft adapter 38. It will be noted from FIGS. 1 and 3 that the adapter 38 extends through an elongated opening 82 defined within a guard 72, and is therefore readily accessible for driving the flexible. cable 80. The outer end of the flexible cable 80 is provided with a right angle drive I 84 to which a cup-type grinding wheel 86 may be mountshaft mounted sheave 36 by a belt 68, FIG. 4. A slotting tool 70 is mounted on each shaft 56, and for slotting purposes the tools 70 perferably consist of flexible grinding wheels similar to those employed in abrasive cutoff machines.

For reasons of safety, the belts 68 are preferably encompassed by shrouds or guards 72 which are adjustable to accommodate adjustment of the brackets 58 relative to the beam 48 for belt-tensioning purposes. Also, the slotting tools 70 are preferably protected byguards 74, and a handle 76 is :afiixed to each of the guards 74 to facilitate pivoting of the beam 48 about the axis of the drive shaft 34 to raise and lower the tools during the slotting operation.

In that the beam 48, the brackets 58, the tool shafts 56 and associated structure, and the guards 72 and 74 on each end of the beam are identical, and the plungers exert equal biasing forces on opposite sides of the beam, the beam 48 is accurately counterbalanced, whereby either end of the beam may be easily raised or lowered. It is only necessary for the operator to overcome the relatively small spring pressure exerted by a plunger 52 on the portion 50 to lower a tool 70 into engagement with the'rail, as shown in full lines in FIG. 3. Upon theoperator releasing the handle 76, the spring-biased plungers 52 will return the beam to the horizontal, neutral position to establish equilibrium between the forces imposed on the beam by the springs within housings 54.

The full line representation of FIG. 3 illustrates the left tool 70, and the other hand engages the left lever left rail 18. With one hand the operator grasps the left handle 76 to maintain the desired vertical position of the left tool 70, and the other hand engages the left lever knob 46 to produce the desired transverse movement of the tool relative to the rail. Thus, by appropriate manipulations of the left lever 42 and left handle 76, the the position of the left tool 70 relative to the left rail may be very accurately regulated. The normal procedure during a slotting cut is to oscillate the tool transversely relative to the rail by means of a back-and-forth motion of the left lever 42, While maintaining the tool in constant engagement with the rail weldment by exerting a downward pressure on the left handle 76.

The dotted line representation A illustrates the usual lateral movement of a tool 70 during operation on a single rail. The dotted line representation B illustrates a position of the beam and right tool 70 for working on the right rail 18. Of course, in the dotted line position B,

ed having a shield 88 mounted thereon. When the grinding wheel attachment is being used, the beam 48 will normally be in the horizontal position as slotting and grinding operations are not simultaneously performed under usual circumstances.

It will be appreciated that the above described railworking apparatus is of lightweight and may be easily removed from the railroad rails by only two operators. The slotting and grinding operations may be performed by a single operator, and the relatively simple construction of the apparatus minimizes production costs and reduces maintenance requirements. It will be noted that the distance between the axes of the shafts 56, upon the outer ends of the beam 48, is substantially equal to the width separating the railroad rails 18 and, thus, little movement of the enginer30 and engine carriage 24 in a transverse direction along members 10 is required to first machine one rail and then the other. To shift the machine operation from one rail to the other does not necessitate the rotation of the engine on the framework, as is necessary in the many prior art devices, and the simplified construction in this regard produces a rigidity and stability which is highly desirable.

It will be understood that various modifications to the inventive concept may be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and it is intended that the invention be defined only by the following claims:

We claim:

1. A rail-slotting machine adapted to be supported on railroad rails comprising, in combination, a frame, railengageable wheels mounted on and adapted to support said frame, a motor mountedon said frame having a drive shaft, a beam having a central port-ion and end portions, means pivotally mounting said beam central portion directly upon said drive shaft for pivotal movement about the axis of said shaft, a rail-slotting tool rotatably mounted on each end portion of said beam, a handle affixed to each end portion of said beam, and drive means drivingly interconnecting said rail-slotting tools and said shaft.

2. In a rail-working machine as in claim 1, wherein opposed biasing means are mounted on said frame and operatively engage said beam biasing said beam toward a substantially horizontal position.

3. In a rail-slotting machine as in claim 1, wherein said drive means drivingly interconnecting said rail-slotting tools and said shaft includes a pair of sheaves mounted on said drive shaft adjacent said central portion, a

sheave drivingly connected to each of said slotting tools and power transmitting means drivingly interconnect-ing the sheave connected to a slotting tool to a shaft-mounted sheave.

4. A rail-slotting machine adapted to be supported on railroad rails comprising, in combination, a frame, railengageable wheels mounted on and adapted to support said frame, track members defined on said frame extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said wheels, motor mounting means movably mounted on said track members, a motor supported on said motor mounting means, a drive shaft defined on said motor, a pair of sheaves mounted on said shaft, a beam having a central portion and end portions, the length of said beam being approximately equal to the gauge of the railroad rails, pivot means directly pivotally mounting said beam central portion on said drive shaft for rotation about the axis of said drive shaft, a rail-slotting tool rotatably mounted on each end portion of said beam, a sheave operatively connected to each of said rail-slotting tools, power transmission means interconnecting each of said sheaves operatively connected to a tool with a shaftrnounted sheave, a handle affixed to each end portion of said beam, and means adapted to move said motor mounting means on said track members.

5. In a rail-slotting machine as in claim 4, wherein said beam pivots about a substantially horizontal axis, and biasing means biasing said beam toward a substantially horizontal normal position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,906,872 5/33 Perazzoli 51-178 1,991,234 2/35 Talboys 5l178 1,994,152 3/35 Talboys 51-178 2,257,480 9/41 Perazzoli 51-178 3,046,707 7/62 Obear 5l178 OTHER REFERENCES Ra l Joint Cross Grinder: published by Railway Track- Work Company, Thompson and Clementine Sts., Phila'delphia,.Pa., December 30, 1 935, 6 pages.

LESTER M. SWINGLE, Primary Examiner,

J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Examiner. 

1. A RAIL-SLOTTING MACHINE ADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED ON RAILROAD RAILS COMPRISING, IN COMBIANTION, A FRAME, RAILENGAGEABLE WHEELS MOUNTED ON AND ADAPTED TO SUPPORT SAID FRAME, A MOTOR MOUNTED ON SAID FRAMIE HAVING A DRIVE SHAFT, A BEAM HAVING A CENTRAL PORTION AND END PORTIONS, MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAI BEAM CENTRAL PORTION DIRECTLY UPON SAID DRIVE SHAFT FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID SHAFT, A RAIL-SLOTTING TOOL ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON EACH END PORTION OF SAID BEAM, A HANDLE AFFIXED TO EACH END PORTION OF SAI BEAM, AND RIVE MEANS DRIVINGLY INTERCONNECTING SAID RAIL-SLOTTING TOOLS AND SAID SHAFT. 